TWO FOR ONE – Investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a dream car and end up with nothing in sight. It happened to the frontman of Maroon 5, Adam Levine (in the photo below), which combines the passion for music with that for vintage car. At the end of 2020, the singer of the famous American band had decided to treat himself to a flaming one Maserati Ghibli SS Spider of 1971 (in the pictures in the repertoire a sample of ’69). The agreement between the Californian auction house Rick Cole Auctions and Levine was based on an exchange of cars with a difference of 100,000 dollars in favor of the pop star, who for the racing car from the Trident house, valued at $850,000had sold two of his Ferraris, a 1972 365 GTC/4 and a 365 GTC four years younger.
WHICH IS THE REAL ONE? – After more than two years, however, Levine and his entourage would have realized that the maserati vintage purchased by the singer it was a fake. Specifically, according to what was reported in recent days by Los Angeles Timesthe car would be identified by a frame number already associated with a car located in Europe. The research conducted by the legal team of the Maroon 5 singer, who, unable to get to grips with the unpleasant incident with the auction house, decided to take her to courtwould show that the Maserati in Levine’s possession is the same one that was withdrawn from an auction in 2015 due to serious doubts about its authenticity.
NON-COMPLIANT CHARACTERS – What did not convince the experts to whom Levine turned, in particular, is the stamping of chassis numbers, not compliant with the characters used by Maserati during the construction period of the car purchased by the singer. A detail that the seller would have tried to hide with various attempts during the negotiation for the exchange of the cars. not sure aboutauthenticityà of his new jewel, for some time Levine has been trying to find the least “painless” way to get rid of it, to at least partly recover from the loss of his Ferraris.
DOUBLE DAMAGE – Apparently, Rick Cole Auctions – whose website tells of Arabian Nights custom-built cars sold to stars of the caliber of Frank Sinatra and Robin Williams – would not have welcomed the decision of the Maroon 5 frontman to sell the his Maserati, ordering him to don’t put it on the market. In the meantime, the only uncertainty that the car may not be authentic was enough to decrease considerably the economic valueon the one hand frustrating Levine’s investment and on the other undermining the reputation of a well-established dealer in the panorama of prestigious and highly collectable historic cars.